now the search was on for a driveline, in the mean time i had begun doing tuning and repair of 2T scooters, getting to know and like the unititized engine / cvt / swingarm configuration of them.

there are of course "levels" of quality in these scooters. the real junk chinese stuff going from $500. - $800. then the better grade japanese, korean knock off market in the $1000.- $2000 range, some of which are actually quite good. and finally the Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and European topshelf offerings from there on up.

after a yr. of working, reading and waiting the donor bike i wanted, for reasons that will become appearant, showed up on craigslist 20mls. away. that being a 2003 Aprilia SR 50 Ditech.

the 2003 didn't have digidash, and has the Morini instead of Piaggio engine.

these scoots do 50mph and get 112mpg in stock form. the one i got has a 70cc BBK kit with all the goodies, has enough acceleration to run away from cars at stops and lights, goes 60mph and gets 90mpg on the stock 13" rear tire. i have a 16" wheel and tire from an Aprilia Scarabeo Ditech that is going to drop my topend rpms and increase both my top speed and MPG's, although not all at the same time.

Thanks. I've seen craig Vetters works, and just looked again and none of them do for me what the aerocoupe trike pic does on the bluesky page you listed.

Love it.

Even if less efficient, it would work with coroplast better than craigs compound curved stuff, just need the bluesky canopy, or maybe start with it as an open roadster.

Coroplast and compound curves don't mix, but the only significant compound curve on the aerocoupe is the canopy. I'd like to figure out a way to diy the windshield canopy too but I can't think of one.

I'm planning a trike like the aerocoupe anyway, not two wheels. I was thinking of starting off with the 150cc gy6 engine in the scooter I have that I never use, but since they aren't the greatest things I'd probably keep my eyes open for something better like you got when a good deal comes up on cl later.

The gy6 I have is just a china engine but with cheap parts I can probably keep it running for a while, and it will get good mileage and speed, not great like yours but good.

Yeah, DT, I've been looking at that "poor man's Spyder" for a while. Unfortunately, the odds of my getting one are essentially zero, even at $1,500 a copy. That design would lend itself to a fully faired recumbent velomobile very readily. I envision something like a miniature version of the Riley design for the XR-3.

Nice! thanks. What honda based velo gained 85lb and still doubled mpg's I'd like to read up on that.

I looked at the foam stuff, that might be handy have to look into it more.

I'm still undecided on type of suspension, tilting seems overkill too complex and heavy for my tastes, but it needs something minimal and light and for me simple in engineering. I only have basic home powertools plus a grinder and a stick welder. I'm not one of those folks with their own machine shop or the budget for a machinist to make stuff for me. **** I'm talking about a chinese gy6 and coroplast fairing, cornering the market on cheap over here.

the idea of a .2 Cd vehicle at or below it's driveline donors original weight is truely intoxicating and absorbing to me.

i proved some of this theory yesterday on road segments that i travel to and home from work. i usually sit straight up on the scooter and use a specific marked position of throttle. yesterday i used the same throttle but "tucked" down using the back portion of the seat and having just my eyes and top of my head above the windscreen just behind the bars ( elbows and knees in as close as possible ) and gained 7MPH from removing just that amount of frontal area, and we are talking about removing 2/3 of the frontal area of the bare scooter itself and improving the exit flow ( no suction drag ).

i'll get some measurements and pics of the basic scooter up this afternoon.

ok i have some pics from the aerocoupe assembly manual to provide a reference to some pics of the aprilia sr 50 ditech.

#1 side of aerocoupe
#2 scooter with tapeline effort to show aerocoupe outline against scooter, this is a ROUGH representation of the length and height of the aerocoupe compared to the scooter. the bed rails are situated to show the actual bottom line of the aerocoupe, yes that's 2" off the ground. and are the 100" length of the aero body. the front of the tape line corisponds to the front of the aero's body relative to the aero's front axle ( 29" ). but as you can see i didn't have what i needed to get the nose slope right, it should go up much faster. perhaps someone who is a good photoshoper can do an overlay with pic #1 for us.
#3 pic of front fairing of scooter revealing horrible design flaw resulting in giant air brake.
#4 front brake
#5 rear brake
#6 throttle body
#7 fuel rail on front of engine head

length of engine from fuel rail to the back of rear tire 32"

scooter has a 3" stretch kit and a wheel base of 54", with driveline in aero the wheel base will be atleast 57" possibly 60".

Nice, that aerocoupe is really small and low isn't it. I read they had a stock 1.5" ground clearance, you're going for 2, but what about speedbumps and stuff? Almost need some small airbags to pull that low of a clearance off and still not high center and scrape the ground all the time.

My china scooter has the same useless air scoop in front also. Form over function.
I think it's supposed to mimic the lines of a superbike, nevermind that the engines aren't even there in front and so it makes no sense.

That scoot looks like it's body is in good shape, you should be able to recoup a lot of your build costs selling the body panels and stuff you don't need if you remove them carefully without breaking or scratching them up and ebay them. People are always looking for body panels and small parts. You might be suprised what they're worth.

That's funny $500 for a scooter tire and wheel. I knew the parts would be expensive but ****, all sense of scale is lost on some of these scoots.

Whatever I build I'll want to ride all over the place, especially if it gets over 100+mpg. I'm the type who will hop on my motorcycles and ride half a day or more just for the fun of the ride, without any destination, and do that pretty often. Something like this I'd like to rig up a superlight trailer and run to the coast just for some fresh seafood or fishing or to catch my own crab. And I'll want it to be a grocery getter and etc, so it pretty much needs to go anywhere and everywhere. I hope 150cc will handle going up and down the mountains with a tiny aerodynamic trailer and about 50lb load.

42, divorced, lost the house, the dogs, the two new cars, and then dumped the fiancee I had after the ex wife. But at least now I have all the time in the world to play, provided it's cheap play hence wanting super gas mileage. Unemployment doesn't pay well, at this point it doesn't pay at all, but the schedule is good. Good times good times.

NW,
150cc would be overkill (not to mention probly illegal). I run a 90cc Lifan on my trike, and without the aerodynamics you guys are talking about, it will cruise all day at 30+ mph, gets well over 100 mpg, and climbs grades with ease.

I realize this is a bicycle forum and I also am planning a 35cc city trike, both have a lot in common but I'm not talking bicycle speeds at all with the 150. I'm talking freeway speed 3 wheel aerodynamic scooter based on motorcycle/scooter running gear, that gets over 100mpg at full freeway speeds and can go up and down the mountains at speed. It'll be licensed, tagged, and insured same as the scooter it comes from...

I already have the 150 scooter and never use it, hence the reason for making a bigger trike than the bicycle one especially after seeing what detonator is working on and falling in love with the aero body shape he's chosen. It would turn a completely unused scoot that I always pass over for my 250 bike into something I might ride more than the 250.

The 150 is a chinese piece of junk I know, I just already happen to have it. I only paid $120 for the whole thing new because it didn't run when I bought it, but I'll probably get several thousand miles out of it now before it's dead because I keep upgrading the parts with brand name stuff as I fix it. It only has 50 miles on it so far and I've already replaced the carb, cdi, and magneto and done a valve adjust to fix it and make it more reliable. I will probably replace the timing chain also before trying to go any distance on it. If I'm lucky I'll get $200+ back from selling the scooter body panels and other parts I don't need to build the trike, and it will basically be a free engine at that point. (I still have less than $200 in the whole thing.) They're easily replaced if it blows up, so no big loss either way.

I bet the next question is safety. Well I'm heading in this direction now. This simple x-prize vehicle uses a 50cc gy6 and a foam core laminated fiberglass body and does over 60mph:

I'm looking into something like that, but with better looks and the tadpole/reverse trike shape of the aerocoupe. Might have to use carbon fiber laminate instead of fiberglass though, or coroplast on parts to keep weight down, not sure still researching my options.

I realize this vehicle is a bit out of the scope of this forum, but it shares so much in common with lightweight trkes like what you guys are working on that much of the technology is the same, and I'm getting a lot of good ideas from here. I probably will have pedals in it, if the weight can be kept low enough for them to be useful at all.